The Prophet of Doom
by X-MENobsession
Summary: Sequel to The Current Calamity. The Doctor and Mae arrive on Earth to have some historical fun with the prophet Nostradamus. But things get messy when old enemies of the Doctor make a reappearance.
1. Intro

**AN: **This story follows the events in 'The Current Calamity,' so it would be wise to read that first. Many of the chapters are already written and will be uploaded periodically. Thank you for reading and please review!

**Intro**

Mae leaned against the TARDIS door frame, watching as the Doctor said his last good-byes. The native species of planet Tesla were more than happy to give the Amasdy a home in their technology, at least that's what the Doctor assured Mae. The Teslans' beaks made it difficult for her to tell one emotion from the other.

The Doctor made a final ceremonial bow to the Teslan leader before entering the TARDIS. "So, where to next?" he asked as he approached the center console and began fiddling.

"Next?" Mae asked, standing next to him. "So this wasn't just a one-trip ticket?"

"Of course not! If it was I would have said so. And even then, I'd probably change my mind later. When I fancy someone I keep them around."

"Oh! You fancy me, eh?" Mae turned around and leaned on the console.

"I fancy everyone I travel with," the Doctor said seriously, wanting to avoid any misunderstandings.

"There are others?" Mae asked. "How many?"

"Well, at the moment two." The Doctor walked around the equipment to play a game of pinball on the other side. "They're in Space Florida. We'll pick them up in about five days."

"And they won't mind me tagging along?"

The Doctor smiled at her. "My spaceship- my rules." He flamboyantly shot the pinball out of its socket and got a high score. "Now, as I was saying… Where to next?"

"Well, there is one place I've always wanted to see…"

"Name it and we'll be there in two heartbeats. From the beginning of the universe to the end, and anywhere in between!"

"Earth."

The Doctor stopped his fiddling and stared at her. "Earth? Are you sure? I've sort of already been there…"

"You said anywhere I wanted, and I've never been to the original Earth. I've only heard stories about it. It sounds so… alien."

The Doctor sighed. "Fine. I'll put the TARDIS on shuffle. That should keep it _somewhat_ exciting."

"Don't you ever get tired of excitement?" Mae asked, stepping away from the console so as not to get in the Doctor's way.

He looked sideways at her and replied, "Never."

_(Theme Song)_


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

An older man with a graying beard dressed in black shuffled about his dank second-story study. Some of the wood furniture had begun to rot and a myriad of herbs and small animal corpses hung from the ceiling. The man placed a clay bowl filled with water on an old table kept steady by a stack of parchment under one of its legs. He stared at his aging reflection in the water for a moment, then closed his eyes and concentrated.

The 'whoosh' of the TARDIS landing could be heard just outside the window and the man's eye's flung open. He turned so quickly that he knocked the bowl of water off the table and it split and splashed all over the floor. He didn't stop, though. He didn't even flinch as he raced out the door and toward the noise.

OOO

"Earth!" the Doctor exclaimed, flinging his arms open and presenting Mae with the dirt and grime of an unremarkable city street. A man walked by dragging a cart filled with silky chickens that released a foul odor. "Is it everything you hoped for?"

"Well," Mae replied. "I was expecting a little more… hygiene." She eyed a nearby woman who clearly hadn't bathed in weeks. "But it's thrilling nonetheless. Where exactly are we?"

"Looks like France… I'd say mid 16th century."

"France?" Mae said as if the word tingled her lips. "Oh, I've heard of France. It's supposed to be beautiful." A man dumped a bucket of unknown liquids onto the street from his bedroom window and Mae's demeanor fell.

"Isn't there a New France where you come from?"

"No. There was supposed to be, but the French Starship never arrived. Rumor has it they were attacked by Space Pirates and, instead of resisting, they bred with them. Now there's a whole species of French Pirates roaming the universe…"

"Hmm…" the Doctor said thoughtfully. "They always were lovers, not fighters."

"Doctor!" the man from the study yelled as he raced down the street, making quite the spectacle of himself. "Doctor!"

"Hullo," the Doctor greeted calmly as the man approached and struggled to catch his breath. "I'm sorry, have we met?"

"No," he answered, his panting dwindling.

The Doctor and Mae looked at one other. "Than, how do you know his name?" Mae asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry." The man straightened up and wiped the sweat from his brow. "I'm slightly psychic. It tends to be unnerving to those who aren't used to it. My wife still falls into a fit when I know who the letter is from before we open it." He gave a weak laugh.

The Doctor smiled in suit, his concern clear on his face. "Right…"

"I heard your arrival," the man pointed to the TARDIS and the Doctor's eyebrows raised in surprise. "And I knew we simply must meet."

"How do you mean by that?" The Doctor asked, his curiosity increasing with every word out of the man's mouth.

"That noise…" the man closed his eyes and listened to the familiar sound. "It feels akin to me- as though it has not only penetrated my dreams, but my very soul."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor retorted, breaking the man from his hypnosis. "But who exactly are you?

The man smiled, revealing a few lost teeth and held out his hand to shake. "My name is Michel de Nostradame."

The Doctor's chin lifted and his hearts quickened as he cited a more common name, "Nostradamus."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Nostradamus!" the Doctor whispered excitedly as he and Mae followed the prophet down the street of Salon, France.

"Who is he?" Mae whispered back.

"A physician, astronomer, astrologer, Sagittarius… But he's most famous for his 942 quatrains in which he accurately predicted thousands of Old Earth events hundreds of years before they happened!"

"So he's a psychic? You don't seem like the type to go for all that."

"Well, I'm not. But still, should prove interesting, right?"

As they entered his study, Nostradamus immediately noticed the broken bowl. "Oh my!" He grabbed a rag and bent to clean the mess.

"Here, let me help you with that," the Doctor offered, squatting next to him and picking up the clay pieces.

"I'm terribly sorry for the mess," Nostradamus replied, gazing about the room as if it had looked entirely different before his guests arrived.

"Oh, it's nothing." The Doctor placed the remnants of a bowl on the aged table. "I know my way around some creative chaos."

"I wasn't speaking for you. But the lady," Nostradamus gestured toward Mae who had been afraid to touch anything the moment she entered. "I can tell she's used to a higher quality than I can offer."

"Oh no, I'm fine," Mae protested. "Really. I was just admiring your plants." She stretched her delicate hand toward a nearby bundle of herbs hanging from a string in an attempt to prove to herself and the others that she wasn't uncomfortable.

"Don't touch that!" Nostradamus warned, and Mae's hand froze. "It's quite poisonous." Mae dropped her hand, folded her arms, and shifted toward the door.

"So this is where the great Nostradamus makes his predictions?" The Doctor asked, straightening himself out and looking around.

"You know of my work?" Nostradamus asked. "Well, you know of much, don't you, Doctor? Yes, this is where I channel the spirit of Apollo and he tells me of the future. This," he grabbed a notebook off a nearby stool and handed it to the Doctor, "is where I write it all down."

"Too late the king will repent; that he did not put his adversary to death; But he will soon come to agree to far greater things; which will cause all his line to die," the Doctor read out loud.

"That's your prediction?" Mae asked. "Not very specific, is it? It could be about anything!"

"It is a bit familiar, isn't it?" the Doctor noted, staring in thought.

"I am forced to scramble my predictions in order to escape persecution," Nostradamus replied.

"What do you mean?" Mae asked.

"The Spanish Inquisition," the Doctor answered, securing an opportunity to display his vast knowledge of history. "The church is in control right now and they don't look kindly to those who practice the Dark Arts."

"You mean like witchcraft?" Mae shivered and suddenly the room that had once been a madman's place of study was a den of evildoings.

"There's nothing 'dark' about what I do!" Nostradamus protested. "Divination is difficult to understand. Fear, on the other hand, is quite simple."

"Well, how exactly do you do it?" Mae asked, wanting to be brave but still a little creeped out. "How do you tell the future?"

"With this…" Nostradamus gestured toward a stool which seemed about as plain as any other. It was brass with three legs. "The angle of the tripod is the same as the pyramids of Egypt. This creates electromagnetic energy that weakens the veil between this world and the supernatural."

"Okay…" Mae commented, as the Doctor circled the stool like a shark.

"I then sit on the tripod and channel spirits through my body. They send me visions of the future, which I scribe in an attempt to warn the earth's descendants of coming tragedies."

"Can you predict anything about me?"

He eyed Mae. "I know of the burning skies and your people's flee, but beyond that there is nothing."

Mae shrugged. "What about him?" She pointed at the Doctor.

"No," he protested. "I don't need to know about the future; I'll be there shortly enough."

"I thought you didn't believe in any of this."

"I don't."

"There is so much within you, Doctor, just waiting to be unlocked," Nostradamus looked at him hungrily. "And you feel so familiar. It's as if I have all the pieces but they just won't fit together."

The Doctor then remembered Nostradamus' reaction to the TARDIS's landing, a sound inaudible to any who have not heard it before. His curiosity was officially piqued. "Fine," he said abruptly and pulled Mae away from the stool as the prophet sat down and began his work.

Nostradamus closed his eyes and all was silent.

"Is it…?" the Doctor began.

"Shh!" Nostradamus hushed, then his peaceful face returned.

"I was only…"

"Shh!"

The Doctor sighed and began leafing through a nearby book in impatience. He had just come across an interesting page when Mae hit his arm.

"Ow!" he said and turned. Nostradamus still sat perfectly still on his stool, but now his eyes were flung wide open and bright light poured out of them.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

High above planet Earth flew a round spaceship. Inside buttons lit, metal glistened, and machinery hummed. A wall lined with screens showed images from all of Earth's history, and the largest screen showed the Doctor's youthful face.

"The Doctor!" a distinct Dalek voice echoed down the halls and alarms began to ring.

O

"Nostradamus!" the Doctor yelled in his face, but the man remained unmoved.

"He's really out of it, isn't he?" Mae asked in disbelief. "I guess we were both wrong."

"No, I'm never wrong. This isn't 'divination' it's aliens!" he showed Mae the page he had been looking at earlier. It depicted a three-legged stool with exact specifications for its making.

"What is that?"

"De Mysteriis Egyptorium. It's an ancient book about Egyptian magic and Nostradamus followed its instructions to the T. Except, what do you see that's different?"

Mae gazed from the stool to the picture and back again. She squinted, squatted, and turned her head to the side. "There!"

The Doctor squatted next to her and together they looked under the brass seat. Attached to the bottom was a sliver box, clearly not of earthly origins.

"It's a little tiny box of… alienness," Mae gasped.

"A little tiny box of alienness," the Doctor agreed. "Isn't that what it always comes down to?"

"But… Who put it there?"

"Exterminate."

The Doctor and Mae rose to see that Nostradamus, still glowing, had begun to speak.

"Exterminate. Exterminate. Exterminate!"

O

"The Doctor is here," one Dalek spoke to another as they stared at the screen through their eye stalks.

"Perhaps he could not resist the lure of the prophet," the second Dalek responded in a much deeper voice.

"It is irrelevant. He is here and we must exterminate. Exterminate the enemy of the Daleks!"

O

The Doctor ran his hand through his hair.

"What does he mean, Doctor?" Mae asked as Nostradamus continued shouting. "What's happening?"

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the silver box but nothing happened. Then he started pulling on it with his right hand, still buzzing with the sonic in his left. When that yielded no results he put the screwdriver in his mouth and pulled with both hands.

"Exterminate!" Nostradamus continued to exclaim.

The Doctor pulled harder and finally managed to rip the box free, rolling backward from the excess force.

Nostradamus immediately quieted and the light left his face. He looked about in a daze.

"What is that?" Mae asked as the Doctor soniked the box and then read the readings.

"It creates a psychological link with the person sitting in that chair."

"Who is it linking to?"

The Doctor looked from his screwdriver to the sky. "The Daleks."

"I thought they were all gone," Mae said, helping the Doctor to his feet.

"I made that mistake before. Wait… How do you know about the Daleks?"

"Their attacks on Old Earth were a whole chapter in my history book at school. They've never come to New Earth, though."

"Consider yourself lucky. They're brutal and malicious… and they always want something." The Doctor stood in front of the recovering Nostradamus, silver box in hand. "Have you ever seen this before?"

"Never."

"It was under your chair."

"It's a tripod," Nostradamus corrected. "And I don't make a habit of looking under everything I sit on."

"Well, maybe you should. How did it get here?"

"I assure you, I don't know. I do leave the house sometimes; it's very possible that someone got in."

The Doctor threw the box on a table and ran his fingers through his hair again as he sighed.

"What do the Daleks want?" Mae asked.

"Who knows?" the Doctor responded. "Something that has to do with a man who makes vague predictions about the future… Oh, I've got it!" His face beamed and he immediately returned to the box and started fiddling with it.

"What is it that you have?"

"It's not about Nostradamus, it never was- It's me!"

"You're quite the humble one, aren't you?" Nostradamus noted as he stood and leaned on a table piled with books.

"Oh, hush! The Daleks want me, but they don't know how to find me, so they come to you, the prophet. They know you predict earthly events and they know I'm bound to come up. So, they wait for a prediction about me that doesn't alter their own timeline. You never had one, but they got something better."

"You," Mae said quietly.

"Yes! I came to them, unknowingly, of course. And now, I'll really come to them." He made a few last alterations to the box and closed it. "I've turned this into a temporary transport device. It will send one person to the home signal on the Dalek ship."

"You can't go!" Mae protested. "You said it yourself, the Daleks are brutal. They'll murder you!"

"If I don't go they'll come here!" The Doctor yelled, losing his normal casualty and clearly conveying the dangers of the situation. "If the most I can do is get them away from Earth it will be good enough."

Tears welled in Mae's eyes. The Doctor searched for comforting words, but then a whoosh was heard on the street and a Dalek voice called out, "Doctor!" From the window the trio saw that the Dalek was headed for the house.

The Doctor put down his box and turned to Mae and Nostradamus. "Hide," he ordered. "I'm going to give myself up, but you two need to go somewhere safe and out of the way."

"No!" Mae cried, but Nostradamus quickly grabbed her by the arm and raced down the stairs, the Doctor following. The Dalek blasted through the front door just as the prophet and the companion vanished behind a corner. The Doctor stood alone and slowly raised his hands in submission.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The room Mae stood in was dark and dank. She wiped a cobweb away and Nostradamus lit a candle. "Where are we?" she asked.

"This is my basement," Nostradamus replied. "It may be a little uncomfortable, but, for the most part, it is safe and out of the way."

Mae plopped onto a crate and buried her head in her hands. "How can we just sit around in hiding while the Doctor is up there sacrificing himself for us?"

"We can't all be doctors," Nostradamus said, sitting down next to her.

Mae watched a bug crawl across the floor. "The most interesting man I ever met…" she reminisced. "I always found my life dull." The bug slipped into a crack. "But this is a bit much."

"Surely there is a middle ground between the ordinary and extraordinary," Nostradamus advised. Then he gave a pitiful chuckle. "Though I'd be the last man on Earth to find it."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I, too, suffer from two extremes. There is Michel de Nostradame, a devout Christian and upstanding member of society, whose only liberal activity is writing a bit of poetry. Then, there is Nostradamus, the visionary, the mystic, the seer of the unseen." He paused. "It does take a toll."

"You really have to hide so much of yourself?"

"Oh yes," he responded. "Persecution is rampant these days. And so I tell the world that my potions are medicinal, my fortunes are stanzas, and my tripod is good for my back."

"There must be something you can share with them. You're a brilliant man; there isn't anything you do that's not considered witchcraft?"

"There isn't much that's not considered witchcraft." The old man sighed. "Although… There are some theories I've been working on, having to do with the physical world around us. It all seems so connected, and I'm sure there is a way to find those connections."

Mae thought. "You mean physics?"

"What's that?"

"Oh!" Mae blushed at her time travel faux pas. "Nothing. I was just making up words."

"Physics…" Nostradamus chewed the word over. "I like it! Perhaps I'll begin sharing my suspicions."

"That sounds great. Though be gentle. You know what they did to Galileo."

"Gala-who?"

"Um… No one." Mae stood and paced the length of the small room. Then she stopped and listened. "I think they're gone now. It should be safe to go upstairs."

"I wouldn't trust that. These things are from other worlds, and I've seen those worlds."

"But we can't stay here!" She began inching up the wooden stairs.

Nostradamus jumped up to protest. "I thought you said this was too much for you."

Mae stopped. "The Doctor is the greatest man I've ever known. I can't just let him die." She walked up the remaining steps, cautiously opened the door, and poked her head out. When there was no sign of danger she moved her whole body forward and headed for the upstairs. Nostradamus timidly followed.

"What are you doing?" he asked her as they entered his study.

Mae picked up the alien box from where the Doctor had left it. "He said this would transport one person to the Dalek ship. I'm going to help him."

"And what if you die too?"

"Then the world will be no worse off! Besides, what if I succeed?" She began examining the box. "Now, where is the 'go' button?" Nostradamus sat on his tripod tiredly and Mae searched. "Finally!" she said. "A big red button! That's always what it is in the movies. Well, I guess I'm leaving now… to face the Daleks… alone…" There was no reply. "Aren't you going to at least wish me good luck?" she asked, agitated. When she finally turned to face the man he was stiff and silent. She was immediately hesitant, remembering the earlier events, but then noticed the alien technology in her hand and knew this was something different.

O

The Doctor entered the Dalek control room accompanied by the drone that had retrieved him. "Hullo," he said and waved politely at the Dalek leader standing before him. "I love what you've done with the place. It's very… Dalek."

"Then it is supreme!" the drone exclaimed.

The Doctor giggled to himself. "Not the word I'd use, but whatever makes you happy. Oh, that's right. You're not happy, are you?"

"We are satisfied with our seizure," the Supreme Dalek responded.

"Well, you didn't really 'seize' me, now did you? I sort of volunteered. You weren't even expecting me at all! No, you thought you'd have to travel throughout time and space, and then, one day, plop! There I am, right on your doorstep."

The Supreme Dalek seemed to think this over for a moment, then replied, "It is no less a victory. You will die in the end either way."

O

"Nostradamus?" Mae called out as she ventured closer to him.

He slowly turned his head to face her and spoke abruptly, "Heed me."

She guessed at what was coming next and frantically searched for a pen but the best she could find was a quill. She dipped it in a bowl of ink and prepared to write on her arm.

Nostradamus spoke quickly, "Left, right, left, top left, purple." Then his eyes began to clear and he seemed to be coming out of his trance. Mae had only been able to write, 'L, R, L, TL, P' but she knew she had no more time to waste. She pressed the red button and disappeared before Nostradamus had even become lucid.

Mae reappeared in what seemed to be an unlit storage room on the Dalek ship. She approached the windowed door and saw a green Dalek approaching. Crouching on the floor, she waited until it passed by, then checked again for clearance before entering the hallway. It stretched fairly far in both directions. Mae looked at the writing on her arm and realized that she should have waited for the ink to dry before teleporting. It had smudged and run together, but, thankfully, she remembered the first portion. "Left, right, left," she repeated to herself and turned left.

She eventually came across a cross section of corridors, turned right, and then took the first door on her left. The room looked like a security office with a wall of screens showing different locations on the ship. On one screen she could see three Daleks standing around a water cooler, but another quickly caught her attention. This was obviously where the majority of the aliens were, crowding around to watch the execution of the Doctor.


End file.
